And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back?
Ahaziah had turned away from the living God to inquire of Baal-zebub, and his messengers were on that errand when they were stopped. The question in the verse is his questioning of those messengers about why they have now turned back before completing their mission, after they encountered Elijah. Elijah had met them with a rebuke spoken in protest against the king's apostasy for seeking a false god instead of the Lord.
The messengers reported back Elijah's message of the Lord's judgment that the king would die and not recover. Ahaziah then asked what manner of man had spoken to them, and their description of his appearance identified him as Elijah. He knew that if the one who had delivered the sentence was Elijah, the announced death would surely come to pass.
The episode of his sin and its punishment stands as a warning against turning from God to occult sources for knowledge. That same danger remains whenever superstition and spiritualistic practices are allowed to replace trust in Scripture and prayer.
Ahaziah had turned away from the living God to inquire of Baal-zebub, and his messengers were on that errand when they were stopped. The question in the verse is his questioning of those messengers about why they have now turned back before completing their mission, after they encountered Elijah. Elijah had met them with a rebuke spoken in protest against the king's apostasy for seeking a false god instead of the Lord.
The messengers reported back Elijah's message of the Lord's judgment that the king would die and not recover. Ahaziah then asked what manner of man had spoken to them, and their description of his appearance identified him as Elijah. He knew that if the one who had delivered the sentence was Elijah, the announced death would surely come to pass.
The episode of his sin and its punishment stands as a warning against turning from God to occult sources for knowledge. That same danger remains whenever superstition and spiritualistic practices are allowed to replace trust in Scripture and prayer.